Maintenance

Where Did We Drive It?
Our 2016 Chevrolet Volt started November strong, with most of the drivers only tapping into the gasoline engine for 20 to 30 miles at a time before plugging into a charging station. Michael Massey filled up early in the month for a gas-only average of 40.8 mpg. It stayed around Los Angeles, mostly running on electricity only, until I took it over the Thanksgiving break. Traveling around Orange County for a week made it too difficult to stay hooked up to charging stations, so most of my errands involved running on gas. The Volt closed the month with a 0.2 mpg downtick in overall fuel economy.

Where Did We Drive It?
Our 2016 Chevrolet Volt made the usual rounds this month, mainly ferrying editors to and from our office in Santa Monica on their commutes. We also drove it to Rosamond, California, home of the famous Willow Springs Raceway, for our annual driving school. On the way, the Volt made a cameo appearance at Vasquez Rocks, aka arguably the most exciting sight on the desolate stretch between Santa Clarita and Palmdale.

Fleetmaster Schmidt informed me that our 2016 Chevrolet Volt was due for a service before I took it for the long Labor Day weekend. We knew the oil change and tire rotation would be covered gratis by Chevy's Complete Care maintenance plan, but there were also a few open recalls to attend to.

I headed to Hooman Chevrolet in Culver City on Saturday morning to get things done. It was a genuinely pleasant experience.

We recently leased a 2016 Fiat 500e for my daughter. In case they don't sell them where you live, the "e" stands for electric. I'm not a fan of the regular 500's engine and transmission, but that stuff gets magically wiped away when they build a 500e, leaving behind a torquey, cute-as-anything pocket rocket with an ultra-low center of gravity.

But I digress. We're supposed to be talking about the 2016 Chevrolet Volt long-term test car I drove home a couple nights ago. The connection, literally, comes in the form of the Fiat's 120-volt Level 1 power cord.

When the 2016 Chevrolet Volt was first introduced to the media, its 8-inch MyLink touchscreen audio system was touted as being able to support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But there was an asterisk: CarPlay would work at launch, but Android Auto fell into the automotive abyss called "late availability."

We later learned this meant the necessary reflash would become available to Chevrolet owners with the supported MyLink touchscreen audio systems in March 2016. March was nearly over when I decided to call our Volt dealer to set up a time to bring it in. But the person I talked to seemed unsure and said something about the update being delayed until April. Funny: I hadn't read any such press release.

"You don't want to do that," said the guy at Selman Chevrolet, where we bought our 2016 Chevrolet Volt. We were surrounded by three pristine Corvettes in the showroom.

In my head I was nodding in agreement like Angus Young. But my mouth said, "Yeah, but this car spends a lot of time in West L.A. and Santa Monica, places where parking enforcement would gladly write us up for no front license plate."

Because it's a requirement in California (and 30 other states,) a front license plate bracket came with the car. But the necessary attachment hardware was nowhere to be found. It takes 6 to 8 weeks for license plates to be issued, so it didn't matter until now.

"I'm here to get the pop-rivets and screws that were supposed to come with the bracket," I continued.

"You don't want to do that," he repeated, meaning something slightly different this time. "Bring it around and we'll put it on for you."

This time he was wrong. "Thanks, but I want to do it myself. Can you see if you have the parts?"

"You're the first person who's wanted to do that," he said. But he soon returned with a baggie containing the four pop-rivets and four screws I needed.

I was staring at the cargo area in our long-term 2016 Chevrolet Volt with my hands on my hips. I was attempting to install the small sheet of fabric that Chevrolet deems fit to call a cargo cover when one off the hook points comes loose.